Are Your Presentations Filled with Problems or Priorities?

What you focus on in your presentation is what will get your audience’s attention. Spend more time focused on solutions than anything else.

Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash

As I’m sure is the case with you, traveling — especially air travel — brings out all kinds of emotions and experiences. And true to form, one of my most recent trips did not disappoint.

While returning home to Phoenix from Shreveport, Louisiana in early June of 2022, the inclement weather in Dallas — where I had a connecting flight that ended up getting cancelled TWICE! — resulted in the airline having to delay our 6:22pm flight time after time after time. After something like five new departure times, we finally boarded the plane more than four hours later, just before 11pm. As you can imagine, at this point, nerves are frayed, plus physical (and mental) exhaustion is at an all-time high for both travelers and the flight crew.

At my window seat, preparing for takeoff, I hear an attendant tell the lady across the aisle and a row behind me that she has too many carryons. My immediate reaction is “Please don’t make this a bigger deal than it has to be. We are already more than four hours behind in our travels. Let’s just resolve this and move on.” And this is mentally directed at the flight attendant as much as it’s directed at the passenger.

The flight attendant goes on to add “You are allowed only two carryons” to which the passenger responded “Well, they didn’t say anything when I got on!”

I see both sides. Yes, the rule is you’re allowed one carryon bag and a personal item that must fit underneath the seat in front of you. However, in the push to simply get folks on the plane and on their way, a gate agent may very well have missed the fact the traveler was boarding with more than two (or three or 12) items, or the passenger may have inadvertently unconsolidated an item after boarding.

Photo by Kin Wai Cheung on Unsplash

The flight attendant with the watchful eye repeats herself: “You are allowed only two carryons.” Frustrated, the lady asks — and rightfully so — “Well, what do you want me to do?!”